"Now We Have Hope"
Tonight I was privileged to hear Maj. Jeff Buczak speak. It was a moving experience.Maj. Buczak spent the greater part of last year in Iraq and he had a message: this election is about leadership and there is only one man to vote for. His story tells why he feels that way.
Jeff graduated from West Point in 1987 and went on to a successful career in the elite forces. Airborne qualified and Ranger trained, Jeff served with an Airborne Infantry (paratrooper) unit in Panama and later commanded a company in the 101st Airborne Air Assault Division. He finished his active career assigned to Special Operations Command.
The major related how proud he was to be in the service back when it accomplished good things, like removing Manuel Noriega from power in Panama and putting him a jail cell (where he still resides today) as part of Operation Just Cause.
But then something happened: there was a change in leadership under the new administration in the 90s and it affected the entire military machine, from the top down. Moral began to decline, equipment was no longer a priority: our fighting force was no longer operating at its peak efficiency.
The situation came to a head during the third undertaking in Somalia -- Operation Continue Hope. Although Maj. Buczak was not assigned there, his comrades did and the story they told was not one to be proud of: the mission was murky, our soldiers did not receive the equipment and supplies that they needed, but worst of all, our nose was bloodied and we ran. The bottom line was that those men died for absolutely nothing: their lives were thrown away. They fought bravely and well, but because of decisions made at the top of the chain their lives were wasted.
Military moral was seemingly irreparably damaged and continued to deteriorate. After a stint in Bosnia Jeff decided to end his active service and did so in '97, although he stayed in the reserves.
A little over a year ago he got a letter asking if he would return to active status. He threw it away. A while letter he got a call, asking the same question. Jeff had every excuse not to go -- he had gained 30 pounds, his wife had recently given birth to their second child, he had recently moved to Memphis and had a new job, he had a bum knee -- the list goes on. But he thought about it and came to the conclusion that the right thing to do would be to salute and charge up the hill. His country needed him and Maj. Buczak responded.
Predictably, Jeff was sent to Iraq. He was a Civil Affairs officer assigned to work with the 1st Marine Division. Their mission was to perform reconstruction by restoring government and basic services in the region in and around Nasaria.
Jeff said that after the initial fighting in Nasaria, the mostly Shiite population welcomed them with open arms. He would go out with 2 Humvees and 8 or 9 people to visit the villages. When they pulled into town the local guards would pull out their AKs and voluntarily pull guard duty to protect them.
When the people were asked what they thought of the Americans being there they said they didn't like it -- but were terrified that we would leave. Americans were occupiers, but we brought order and stability that would disintegrate if we left.
After a time Jeff was transferred to Bakuba, a place where the Sunni, Shiite and Kurd sections of the country all come together. Even here, in this very troubled place, the average Iraqi felt the same way about the American presence. Others wanted to return to the way it used to be: these were mainly leftovers from the old regime who had lost their power and privileged status.
Every time a unit left the gate there was a possibility that something would happen. There were roadside bombs where a chunk of curb had been taken out, a mold made of the hole, a bomb fashioned to fit the hole, then the bomb was set and new concrete poured to hide it. This was a multi-stage process resulting in a IED that was almost impossible to detect. American patrols took losses.
Inside the compound it was different. There were occasional mortar attacks and drive-by shootings (only the drive-by was done with an RPG, Jeff said with a wry grin), but on the whole it was fairly safe.
Jeff spent some time talking about the Iraqi National Guard, which is made up of some of the toughest and bravest individuals on the planet. The major said that he would be willing to fight side-by-side these men (high praise coming from one of our military elite). These, he said, are true patriots. In spite of attacks on them as they wait in line to sign up or as they walk around town they continue to enlist. They are the same as patriots in this country -- willing to give their all to bring freedom to their country. After all, would you do any less if you had to fight for freedom in America? Why would they be any different, especially after two decades of brutal oppression under Saddam and his sons?
Do not believe that the Iraqi people do not want freedom: they thirst for freedom. The farmer just wants to be able to grow his crops, the goat herder just wants to raise his herd, the businessman just wants to send his kids to a good school. These people are not unlike us.
But the people that worked with the Americans were known in the town and had to go home every night to their neighborhoods. People get shot just because they work with Americans (Jeff personally knew an Iraqi woman who was shot in the face because she worked in the compound), yet they are willing to take that chance because they know they are working for something better -- a free Iraq.
It is true that they had more reliable electricity and water under Saddam, but they still say that things are better now. Ask them why and they will tell you, "Now we have hope."
Hope of a free Iraq. Hope of being prosperous like their neighbors in Kuwait. Hope of being free to live life without the fear of saying the wrong thing or being in the wrong place and suddenly earning Saddam's disfavor.
Jeff said that the amount of ordinance over there was "mind-boggling". But the discipline of our troops is amazing, even among truck drivers who rarely get to the range. We go to great lengths not to kill civilians -- but the Iraqi and foreign insurgents don't care.
But we are making a difference: the guys we train have a different attitude. Jeff related how he saw fistfight between an Iraqi army soldier (who we trained) and an Iraqi policeman (who we didn't train) because soldier thought that the cop was being too careless with his weapon.
We are teaching more than just procedure and tactics.
The American soldiers are incredible. Every day they put on their flak vests and go outside the compound on missions. It's Russian roulette, but they get out there and get it done.
Jeff told a story of one young American soldier who drove a Humvee on a particular logistics mission to pick up supplies from a nearby airfield. They asked for volunteers and she put her hand up. She was killed driving the truck that day; she was 19-years-old and she won't be going home. The next morning they said that anyone who didn't want to go out on a mission that day would be excused. No one stayed. "We're all going out," was the expressed sentiment. When they asked for a volunteer to drive on the next supply mission, all hands went up in the air.
The moral exhibited by these troops, Jeff said, was "awe-inspiring". He came from elite-type units and it was the first time he worked this closely with regular troops, but he found them to be tough as nails and having astonishing bravery.
Although this is not reflected in the news, working with these men and women made him proud to be an American and proud to be a soldier.
"We have it," Jeff said. "We are in control of the field. Yes, we are getting hit and taking losses, but the worst thing would be to cut and run, and abandoning those people would be wrong -- the next thing will be worse."
It is true that whatever government is finally established in Iraq will almost certainly not be an American-style democracy, but they will have freedom. There are people who have a vested interest in keeping Iraq in the Stone Age and we must stop them.
Jeff said that there were a lot of issues in this campaign, including what happened 30 years ago. He briefly went off track to say that as far as his reserve records go, he is still assigned to New York even though he has lived in Tennessee for two years (when he wasn't in Iraq) because they can't get the paperwork straight. It's not that they are inefficient or ineffective; they are working with the major to keep him on the rolls while they find an appropriate unit down here (similar to how it appears that the Texas Air Guard was working with G. W. Bush). If he misses a drill for some reason or another he makes up for it when he can and everything is done verbally. His point was that from his perspective, Lt. Bush wasn't getting any more "special privileges" than Maj. Buczak or 100's or so other Reservist and Guardsmen get when they relocate.
But that, he stressed, doesn't really matter. There is one overriding issue that this election hinges upon: leadership.
We must have a president that has the backbone to stand behind the troops. We must have a president that has the resolve to honor the commitment we made to the people of Iraq and signed in blood. To back away from that commitment would be a shameful day for this country.
President Bush can be depended upon to honor our promise to the Iraqi people for a free Iraq. President Bush can be depended on to show the resolve necessary to see us through difficult times.
President Bush must be reelected.
Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment. Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom -- the great achievement of our time, and the great hope of every time -- now depends on us. Our nation -- this generation -- will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.
-- President George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, September 2002.
Printed with permission of Maj. Buczak. Any inaccuracies and/or omissions are due to the poor typing skills of the scribe who was trying to type at the same time as listening while entranced.
My very sincere thanks to Maj. Buczak for speaking, to all of our soldiers for serving, and to all of the military families that put aside worry and fear to offer love and support to their loved ones who are in harms way so very far away.
Blog post #3641 in category
Defining Bush
posted 17 September 04
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